


Gaming the System

by yarnandtea



Series: Despite the Odds [1]
Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Backstory, Earthborn Commander Shepard, Gen, Pre-Games
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-02
Updated: 2013-04-02
Packaged: 2017-12-07 07:38:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,359
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/745981
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yarnandtea/pseuds/yarnandtea
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Meet Winnie Shepard. Since her parents died when she was ten, her life hasn't exactly been a walk in the park. She's almost eighteen now and has decided it's time to make a change and hopefully do something about that.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Gaming the System

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first story in what will be an entire series about my Shepard and her eventual relationship with James Vega. It's the introduction piece to her, filling in some of the blanks from before she joined the Alliance and just how and why she ended up joining. It skews a little bit from the game's established lore for the Earthborn background, but not too much, I think. For more information about where this is headed, please feel free to check out the series info page!
> 
> Also, major thanks to the amazing ladyamesindy for her beta, and for brainstorming and being willing to listen to me just rattle on about this crazy endeavor!

**February 2172: Earth**

Okay, so maybe she wasn't supposed to be hacking into Beall's personal terminal.

But seven years of living with the guy had done nothing if not to teach her that "supposed to" didn't tend to apply to her. At least, it didn't when Beall wanted something. So why should it matter when the target was one of her own choosing?

The problem with Beall was that he kept forgetting that she wasn't _stupid_ , and she was starting to get fed up with that. Sure, it had served her well enough on more than one occasion, but Winnie knew that it was only a matter of time before playing along with Beall's machinations got her into serious trouble. She would be eighteen soon, and she wanted out. Problem was, she knew that there was no way Beall was about to let her go willingly. She was too _useful_.

So, here she was, hoping she might find something to use as leverage against him. Beall wasn't stupid either, but that didn't mean he was all that smart. She was convinced there would be something on his terminal she could use to bargain for her freedom. If not actual evidence of a scam she could hold over him, then something that would lead her to it.

Her initial thought had been to find out how much his debts to the bookies totaled and to pay it off with her savings. It would be the friendliest way of attempting to buy her freedom, but it would also be pretty problematic. For one thing, Beall didn't know about her savings and with good reason. He might have been one of her parents' best friends, and while she had liked him a lot more when she was little, she had never trusted him. Especially not with money.

So after Beall had started bringing her along on his endeavors, she had taken part of her payout and opened up a savings account. The account wasn't in her name, but under a false identity she had created specifically for it. She had a handful of them, they were useful in working for Beall, but this was one he didn't know about. She never used it for anything but that bank account. Even if he did find out about it, she had made sure he couldn't touch the money. She put the bulk of every payout into the account, letting Beall see her spend just enough of her earnings to not suspect that she might be squirreling the rest of it away.

After all of that, she wasn't too eager to let Beall know she'd been holding out on him. That money was a safety cushion for her and she didn't intend to waste it on him. Besides, even if he did forgive her hiding it from him, paying off his debts once, showing that she _could_ save up money without him knowing--she'd be lucky if he didn't expect her to do it again. And again. And so on. That wasn't the way to shake him, it was the way to ensure he never let her go.

For the briefest of moments she had considered assuming that false identity and just running. But that felt like letting Beall win. She didn't like the idea of living a lie, either. Little lies here and there were fine, useful even, but Winnie avoided them when she could. She had noticed people tended to believe her lies a lot easier when they were used to her telling the truth all of the time. But living under an assumed name? Pretending to be someone else? There was starting over and there was hiding. She knew which she preferred. And, even if, for some reason, Beall didn't manage to hunt her down, she'd never be able to stop looking over her shoulder. So no, she was getting the hell off of Earth and away from that bastard, but she was going to do it on her own terms. She wasn't ashamed of who she was, or who her parents had been. But that didn't mean she had to keep living the life that had been handed to her either.

The terminal beeped and the screen blinked, filling with decrypted data.

"Jackpot!" she whispered with a feral grin.

Winnie scanned the list of files, unsurprised to see they were organized by name. It was basically a full list of Beall's marks. Her hand hovered over the screen as she tried to decide which one to open first. She paused and her eyes widened as the name of one of the files caught her eye.

**Shepard, Alan and Teresa**

"What?" The sound of her own voice in the silent room was enough to make her jump.

A chill crept through Winnie as she stared at the file. That couldn't be right. Why would her parents be in this group? They'd been Beall's partners, not his marks. They had been killed _by_ a mark, a man named Everett, who they had helped Beall con out of a very large sum of money. Everett had found out about their involvement with the theft and taken revenge. So, if they were in Beall's files on his marks, Winnie would have expected to find them under Everett's name.

Maybe she'd opened the wrong list...? Perhaps this wasn't one of his marks but of something else? She read through the other file names quickly but carefully, double checking. She shook her head in frustration and denial at what she found. Every other name on the list belonged to people she _knew_ had been Beall's victims. Even though many of them were from before he had taken her in or jobs she hadn't helped with, she had heard enough of his shop talk to recognize them all. Was it possible that her parents could have been marks as well?

Her hand shook as she moved it back over the screen, tapping to open the file. As she read through the records included, her eyes widened and then filled with tears. She scrubbed a hand across her face, refusing to let them fall, refusing to let them blur her vision as she read on. She had to know it all. Every last bit. When she finished, she took a deep breath and sat back from the terminal. Her eyes slid closed as she tried to center herself.

"This is big, kiddo," she whispered to herself, "and bad. And so much worse than you ever thought."

She took another deep breath and then attached an external drive to the monitor, setting it to copy all of the files. She pushed back from Beall's desk to pace around the small office while she waited.

Winnie had realized at an early age that her parents weren't exactly upstanding citizens. Generally speaking, most kids' parents didn't tell them to lie to their friends about what they did for a living. Nor were many kids her age on a first-name basis with the local bookies. But she hadn't learned until their deaths that they had actually been criminals. Petty enough, as these things went. Just extortion, credit scams, information gathering. That kind of thing.

Even though it had gotten them killed, Beall had sworn up and down when he'd taken her in that her parents had never done anything to actually hurt anyone. She'd only been ten, and had been willing to believe him. Before long, Beall realized that Winnie had managed to inherit her mother's tech skills. Convincing her that she was honoring her mother's memory, he'd worked with her to develop those skills. Before she'd known it, she'd been sucked into following in her parents' footsteps.

If she was honest with herself, she _loved_ that thrill of breaking through a heavy encryption, or disabling a high-level security system, or even hacking into it and taking control. She was _good_ at this stuff. If no one was getting hurt, and she was helping to put food on the table, then what was the harm? After all, as Beall constantly reminded her, raising a kid wasn't cheap, and he had his own expenses to tend to. If she could earn her own keep then she'd damned well better.

But Beall didn't bring her in on every job. Her more cynical side had always just assumed that, those tending to be the _really_ big scores, he was just trying to avoid needing to cut her in on the profits. After seeing her parents' file, though, she had to wonder. Maybe he was just keeping her off the jobs he knew she'd actually object to, that she might even interfere with? The thought made her grow cold again.

Because if she'd read that file correctly, Beall was a lot more dangerous than she had ever believed. She might not be able to bargain for her release from his "care" at all, and if she did escape, she was going to have to make damned sure he couldn't ever come after her.

The terminal beeped again signaling the file transfer was finished. Winnie retrieved the drive and attached it to the chain around her neck. It blended in with the few charms that already hung there. No one would know it was a drive unless they knew to look for one. With that done, she leaned down and cleared the history, hiding her tracks so that Beall wouldn't know she'd accessed the terminal. She checked over the office, making sure everything was as it had been when she entered, and then slipped out, deciding she needed to clear her mind before making any decisions.

Winnie returned to her own room and changed into a pair of sweats and sneakers. There was only one way she could clear her mind after such a huge discovery. She needed to run.

~~

Beall was still out when she returned, and Winnie whispered a quick prayer of thanks for small favors. If asked, she probably couldn't have said who or what she was praying to. The universe maybe, or the stars. She kind of liked the idea of praying to the stars. But it was another habit of her mother's that she had picked up along the way, and one she couldn't seem to shake. Maybe didn't want to shake it. If someone had been foolish enough to suggest it was for sentimental reasons, she would have cringed and denied it though. She hadn't really been allowed much in the way of sentiment since her parents' deaths.

Her run had given her a chance to put her thoughts in order. Her original plan of leaning on Beall with the information she had found was out. If he learned she'd accessed any of those files, he'd know she had seen the one on her folks. She knew he didn't think she was _that_ stupid. If he knew that...well. If and when he learned she knew about what he'd done, she meant to be well out of his reach.

Which meant she needed a plan to get there.

Before she could make a plan, she needed to have all of the information at her disposal.

A quick look at the calendar on her omni-tool confirmed that this was Beall's night to play cards down at the bar. Given the late hour, he was probably already there. That should hopefully give her at least a few hours of uninterrupted time to sort out her next move. She hopped in the shower, hoping the hot water would wash away her trepidation as well as the sweat. Once she was toweled off and dressed again, Winnie headed to the kitchen to make some dinner. Armed with a plate of sandwiches and a thermos of tea, she grabbed a datapad and climbed out of the window in the hallway that let out onto the fire escape. She hurriedly ascended the rickety stairs to the roof of her apartment building making a beeline for the little corner she had long ago claimed as her own refuge. Settling in, she started in on her sandwiches, leaning back to stare at the sky as she ate.

She couldn't see the stars, of course. In the middle of such a huge urban center, the glow of the lights completely blocked out the worlds beyond Earth. Her eyes slid closed and in her mind's eye she could see the constellation map that hung over her bed in her room below. The stars scattered across its surface glowed in the dark if she left the light on long enough before going to sleep. She tried to orient the map to fit her location and the time of year, but it was no use. Her thoughts kept being drawn to the drive hanging from the chain around her neck.

With a heavy sigh she sat up a little straighter and freed the drive from her necklace. She opened it up on the datapad and began methodically combing through the information. She started with the files for scams she'd been part of and was grateful that there was nothing overly new in them. For the most part, Beall had shot straight with her on those. Next she moved to the jobs she hadn't been involved in, starting with the most recent and working her way back. She carefully avoided looking at the file she had already opened earlier in the day. Seeing that information again wouldn't do her any good at the moment. It wasn't the kind of leverage she needed.

The rest of the files though, they might as well have been made of pure eezo. It was as bad as Winnie had feared. Beall was not just into petty crimes, he also had quite a lengthy list of professional hits under his belt along with some major heists in which guards and witnesses had been killed. As far as she could gather from the files, Beall had spent the last twenty years as a secret enforcer for the local leader of the Tenth Street Reds. She cursed a blue streak at that discovery. That gang seemed to run this damn city, and it had probably been Beall's efforts--and hers? she blanched at the thought--that had helped them get into that position. A wave of panic washed over her as she looked at the dates again and realized that her parents had been alive when that started. Had they been working for the Reds too?

She quickly went through the files since the start of Beall's service with the Reds and sagged in relief to see that her folks hadn't been involved with the organization. It seemed he had kept that association hidden from them as he had with her. She idly wondered if they had found out somehow. Maybe that was why...she brushed the thought away and continued going through the files.  When she finished, she pulled the drive from the datapad and used her omni-tool to wipe the pad. She'd probably throw it away, somewhere far, _far_ away from here, too. Just for good measure. But for now, she had what she needed.

There was enough on that drive to send Beall away to prison for the rest of his life. Maximum security, even. Probably off of Earth. The evidence could probably help the cops take down a big chunk of the Reds, too. Which meant she had some pretty damn hefty leverage sitting in the palm of her hand. Enough to get her away from Beall for sure, hopefully enough to get her a fresh start as well.

_If Beall goes down, he's going to try to take you with him, kiddo._

She had to make sure he couldn't touch her. She could only think of one way to do that. Well. No time like the present. If she was going through with this, she might as well get it over with. If she waited too long, or hesitated even a little, Beall would find out. This was too big for her to hide. She stood and stretched, then gathered up her things. Before she started climbing down the ladder back to her apartment, she spared one last glance up at the sky. She wondered what it would be like to get to see the stars for real.

 _Maybe_ , she thought with a small smile, _I can find out._

~~

The police station was a lot quieter than she had expected it to be. The few times she'd managed to get pulled in for questioning on something, it had always seemed like a kicked hornet's nest. But maybe it was just the time of night--too late in the day for people coming in to file minor complaints, too early for all of the hardcore criminals to be getting to work. She stared at the directory in the main lobby for a good five minutes, biting her lip as she tried to push back a last-minute wave of doubt.

"Can I help you, miss?"

Winnie whirled around to find a rather bored looking officer settling in to the chair behind the front desk. He hadn't been there when Winnie entered the building. Must have gotten up for a restroom break or something.

"Are you in some kind of trouble?" he asked her when she didn't say anything in response to his question. A flash of annoyance shook Winnie out of her indecision.

 _What, do I look like some helpless lost little waif? This guy has_ no _idea._

"I have some information regarding a person of interest," she said, taking a step closer to the desk. The officer's eyebrows shot up and Winnie fought back a smirk. She was proud of how clear and confident her voice sounded. Good. She couldn't let them think she was unsure or weak. "I need to speak with Detective Carroski, if he's on duty."

"I take it he's not expecting you then, miss?" The officer had managed to recover from his surprise and had shifted to pure business mode.

"Oh, he's not expecting me at all," Winnie answered sweetly.

The officer snorted. He asked for her name and then called up Carroski. Winnie could only hear the officer's side of the conversation, but it didn't take very long. He tapped something into his terminal and the doors to the elevator behind the desk slid open.

"Go on up," the officer said with a smile. "He'll meet you."

"Thank you, officer." 

She received a polite nod in return and then she was in the elevator. She waited until the door had closed and it had started moving before letting herself take a deep, steadying breath. She began running over what she wanted to say in her head. She needed to play this right if she was going to make the deal she was hoping to make. Carroski had been sniffing around Beall for years though, and she suspected that he would gladly negotiate with her if it meant taking him down, not to mention a substantial part of the Reds' network. The elevator stopped and the doors slid open. Carroski was standing on the other side, arms crossed and a curious look on his face.

"Shepard," he greeted her with a nod. "Gotta say, this is a surprise. You're the last person I'd expect to come see me on purpose."

"Surely not the _last_ ," Winnie said, relaxing a bit as he gestured her across the wide open room. He guided her to his desk and she took the seat next to it as he lowered himself into his own chair.

"Well, I suppose you've got me there." He tilted his head, looking her over, assessing her, she knew. Probably it had crossed his mind that this might be some sort of trick. Hopefully she could dissuade him of that notion quickly. She really didn't have the patience for games, and if he thought she was playing him, he would play right back. "So tell me, what _does_ bring you here?"

"Beall," she said, not bothering with any preamble. She pulled the drive off of her necklace and held it out. "I don't really feel like being his lackey for the rest of my life."

Carroski reached out and took the drive, his eyes meeting hers as he did so. She held his gaze and he must have approved of whatever he saw. He gave a sharp nod and plugged the drive into his terminal.

"What's this, now?" he mused as the list of files popped up.

"Bit of a packrat, Beall," Winnie said. "Holds on to things he shouldn't. Like incriminating evidence."

"And he just left this...lying around?"

"Of course not," Winnie snorted. "I had to hack my way into his personal terminal to find it. It was more than a bit of work, even for me."

Carroski raised an eyebrow at that, but he just shook his head and continued to skim through the data. Winnie sat patiently next to him, knowing that his interest was a good thing for her. After a while, Carroski sat back, letting out a low whistle.

"Damn. I knew Beall was dirty. I didn't know he was _that_ dirty."

"Neither did I," Winnie said softly. That drew a sharp look from Carroski, but he didn't comment.

"Why come to me with this? I get that you want out from under Beall's thumb, but this is enough to put him away for the rest of his life. He raised you, didn't he?" Winnie nodded. "So, why?"

"Because there's a file in that list with the name 'Shepard' on it," she told him, holding his gaze. His eyes widened, just slightly, and then he nodded. "And because I want a deal," Winnie added as he started to turn back to the terminal.

"What kind of deal?"

"My hands aren't completely clean here, as I'm sure you've guessed."

Carroski acknowledged this with a slight nod. He'd questioned her before about a few jobs when Beall had been a suspect. The last time, she had realized he was starting to think she might not just be Beall's ward but maybe his partner as well. He gestured for her to continue and she did.

"But everything I've been involved in has been small change. This data doesn't just give you Beall, it gives you at least a quarter of the local Reds as well. For that, I want immunity and a clean slate. I want an MPA deal."

"MPA, huh?" He glanced back at the list of files. "Yeah, you're right, this is probably enough that I can get the brass to approve an MPA, but..." He squinted at her. "How old are you?"

"I'm seventeen for another two months," she said. "If you take my statement tonight..." Carroski was nodding along.

"We'll have to move fast to get everything filed in time. I think my supervisor will agree to expedite the case though."

Winnie nodded and her shoulders sagged in relief. That had been the one catch in her plan. They had to want Beall badly enough to push the case through before she turned eighteen. Otherwise the MPA deal was off the table.

When gangs like the Tenth Street Reds had started rising in influence, they'd begun collecting kids from around the cities--the abandoned, the runaways, the orphaned--into their organizations. The kids grew up in the gangs and a strong sense of family was fostered. It made for more loyal members, she supposed. A warm meal and a bed, not to mention "vocational" training, counted for a lot when you didn't have anything. There were a lot of kids on Earth who didn't have anything. Too damn many.

Hell, Winnie had always considered herself fortunate to have avoided such a fate herself. If Beall hadn't taken her in when her parents had died, she'd have ended up in the foster system, which was a mess. Yeah, maybe she'd have been lucky and gotten adopted by good people and had a decent life, a family. But odds were a lot higher she would have ended up dead on the streets or recruited into the gangs herself. She had always been grateful to Beall for saving her from that fate. Winnie winced as she realized that he'd never actually done any such thing. She'd been working for the Reds the whole time, she just hadn't known it.

The Minor Protection Act had been passed as a way to combat the gangs' use of children. For those who did want to break out, it offered them a chance. If the kids flipped, they could get a sealed record and relocation. A chance to start over with a clean life somewhere else, somewhere away from Earth if they wanted. More importantly, the MPA meant that a minor did not have to appear in court. Their testimony was recorded and played at the trial. The defendant was given the chance to make a statement or offer evidence to refute the testimony, but the identity of the witness was not revealed until trial and was kept off the public record.

Which meant that if Carroski's supervisor could get things moving fast enough, charges could be filed and a court date set before she turned eighteen. Even if the trial didn't take place until later in the year, her witness status as a protected minor would be locked in. Carroski had gone back to looking at the files and after a moment he turned and gave her a shrewd look.

"Supervisor'll want a full confession from you though, before she'll agree to wiping your slate. Everything you've been involved in, and I do mean _everything_."

"Figured as much." Winnie shrugged. She knew it was a risk. They could decide her crimes were too many to forgive. She didn't think they would though. She was a hacker. What was that compared to what Beall had done in his career? How many open cases would bringing him in close? Besides, without coming clean, she couldn't get her record cleared. Without a clear record, the rest of her plan was done before it got started.

"Okay then," Carroski said after a long moment. He gave her a knowing smile. It seemed he also thought she was small potatoes compared to Beall and the Reds. "Let's get the process started then. You'll need to fill out some forms, and there's the relocation paperwork to get rolling." He leaned over to the side of his desk to open up a drawer and pull out a blank datapad. While he did, Winnie reached out and pulled the drive from his terminal. "What the--?" Carroski sat up and turned to glare at her. To his credit he did not try to take it back. He just looked at her expectantly, clearly assuming she would explain.

"I don't want the standard relocation," she told him quietly, sitting up straight.

"Oh?" Carroski's right eyebrow seemed to be trying to climb off his forehead.

"I want to enlist." Her voice did not rise, but her tone was firm. "As soon as I'm eighteen. I'll hand this back over once you've spoken with your supervisor and given your word that I will be able to."

"You want to join up?" Carroski blinked, clearly surprised. "Why? If you're tired of being under Beall's thumb, let me tell you, a training officer is probably gonna be a hell of a lot worse. I was in the Alliance. Trust me, I know."

"I'm _good_ at what I do, Detective," Winnie said. "But there's not a lot of honest work for someone with my skills, and if I'm going to start over, I want to get as far away from this life as I can." _And I want to get off this ball of dirt and see the stars_ , a part of her mind whispered. She didn't think he needed to know that bit though.

Carroski nodded slowly.  "I noticed some names on this list that we hadn't even connected to Beall," he said after a minute, his head tilted in thought. "The hacks were too clean, smart, the fingerprints almost impossible to even find, let alone trace. I kinda thought we had a new player in the field. That was you?"

Winnie bit her lip and nodded once. Carroski let out another low whistle.

"Guess I should be glad you're wanting to put those skills to use for good then," he snorted. He loaded up the datapad and handed it to her. "Get started on those forms, I'll go talk to my supervisor. You want a coffee or anything?"

"Tea, if you've got it," Winnie said with a small smile.

"Sure thing, be back in a bit."

Winnie got down to filling out the forms that Carroski had given her. A detective she didn't recognize stopped by with a cup of tea and she accepted it eagerly. It hadn't been sweetened, and she made a face at the bitter taste, but she drank it down anyway. She suspected it was going to be a long night. Winnie managed to make it through the forms before Carroski got back to his desk. She set the pad on the corner and sat back her chair, looking around the station.

It was still pretty quiet, but she could see that people were beginning to stir. She wondered how many arrests they were going to make tonight off of her evidence. Carroski was in a closed office on the side of the room, talking to an older woman who looked like she didn't put up with anyone's shit. They glanced over at Winnie through the window and she grinned and waved at them. The woman shook her head and rolled her eyes, but Winnie thought she caught the hint of a smile. The woman said one last thing to Carroski and he nodded before leaving the office and walking back over to Winnie.

"Well?" Winnie did her best to keep the nervousness out of her voice.

"Looks like you've got a deal," Carroski grinned. He sat down and shook his head. "I'm still kind of surprised you decided to bring your evidence to us, but I'm glad you did." He gave her a long look. "For you as much as for us, I think."

"Did you read the file?" Winnie asked him. "The one on my parents?" Carroski didn't answer but she could tell from his expression that he had. "I was supposed to be with them that night, you know. It was my mom's birthday. Dad wanted to celebrate with a big fancy dinner." She shook her head and looked down.

"But I got sick at school, sent home early and everything. They weren't going to go out, but I made them. I didn't want mom to spend her birthday watching me sleep. The neighbor promised to check in on me, so they agreed to go." She finished off her tea. "Week before that, they'd helped Beall rip off some guy called Everett. A lot of money." Carroski nodded. This was the part he knew.

"Enough to ruin his business for good," Carroski added. "He was out for blood, and someone told him it was your folks who had been behind the scam."

"Yeah," Winnie said softly. "Only it wasn't just someone, it was Beall. I saw the file he had on Everett. He knew how the guy would react to being conned. He was also starting to horn in on the Reds' territory." She looked back up, catching Carroski's eyes. "Beall set my parents up. He got them to help with the job, and then passed their names on to Everett so he would kill them. Then, he made sure the hit could be traced back to Everett, which got him out of the way for the Reds. Two birds with one stone. That bastard knew exactly what he was doing. Then he took me in and made a big show about us being family, about being my parents' best friend, and how it was only right that he raise me. That they would have _wanted_ it that way."

"Maybe he felt guilty for betraying them?" Carroski suggested. "Or he realized that it was just a stroke of luck you hadn't been killed too and was trying to make it up to you somehow?"

"Bullshit," Winnie snorted. "Come on, Detective. How long have you been trying to nail him? Do you seriously think Beall gives a damn about who he betrays?" She shook her head again. "No, he wanted to keep me close, to make sure I didn't know too much. Probably also threw any suspicion off him, if there was any. Then as soon as I started showing an aptitude for tech, bastard put me to work for him." She caught the sympathetic look Carroski was giving her and returned it with a glare. She realized she _really_ didn't want to talk about her parents anymore. Or ever. It was too much. "Look, you wanted my motivation for turning him in, okay, and now you have it. Can we drop it?"

"Sure, kid." Carroski said softly. "We're about to send some officers to pick up Beall. I don't suppose you know where he is?"

"It's his cards night," she answered readily. "He should be at Larsen's." Carroski nodded and tapped the information into his omni-tool, no doubt alerting the officers as to their quarry's presumed location. "Once we've booked him, we'll take you back home so you can pack up what you want to take with you. Then we'll get you somewhere safe while this whole process gets underway."

"And the Alliance?" Winnie asked.

"Lieutenant said if that's what you want, she'll make it happen," he replied with an amused smile. "I think she agrees we'd rather see your skills on _our_ side. So to speak." Winnie breathed a sigh of relief. Without a word she handed the drive back to Carroski. "Thanks," he said. "Speaking of the LT, come on, might as well go get your statement on the record while we wait for them to bring Beall in."

~~

"We should be hearing from the arresting officers any time now," Carroski said, stifling a yawn as he led her out of the room where she had given her statement.

The lieutenant had questioned her personally and had seemed to take all of Winnie's admitted crimes in stride. Winnie had actually been a bit surprised but the woman had waved it off, pointing out that Winnie had been more or less press-ganged into it by her guardian and the fact that she had come in to confess of her own free will was going a long way to prove her character, as far as the lieutenant was concerned. Besides, as she had guessed, most of her crimes added up to little more than aiding and abetting, with Beall a much bigger fish to catch.

He led her across the hall into a small break room and pointed her toward a drink station. While Carroski grabbed a cup of coffee, Winnie busied herself making another cup of tea. This time she added a hefty dose of sugar, and it was much more to her liking when she brought it her lips for a sip. They headed back to Carroski's desk once they had their drinks. They were halfway across the main room when Carroski stopped suddenly in front of her. She barely avoided sloshing the hot tea down her hand and arm as she tried not to walk into him.

"Shit!" Carroski muttered, moving so that he was standing directly in front of her.

"What?"

Winnie peeked around him, curious, and her eyes widened as she saw the explanation for the detective's strange behavior. A pair of officers were escorting Beall across the floor, clearly headed for an interrogation room. He appeared to be quite drunk, and he wasn't handling his arrest gracefully at all.

"They were supposed to warn me before they brought him in!" Carroski grumbled under his breath.

He was still trying to stay in front of Winnie, blocking her from Beall's sight. It wasn't too difficult a task. Carroski was well over six feet in height, towering over Winnie's five-foot-three stature, and he was wide enough for two of her. Winnie was at once both touched and annoyed by the protective gesture. It was his job to keep her safe, after all. But people had been underestimating her due to her size for her entire life and she had never much cared for it, even when she knew it was well-intentioned. She quietly set her cup of tea down on a nearby desk and stepped up beside Carroski, crossing her arms and settling into a waiting position. Carroski glanced down at her with a surprised curse but she just glared back. He huffed out a breath and rolled his eyes in response, then turned his attention back to Beall.

Fighting and cursing at the officers dragging him in as he was, it took Beall a few moments to notice Winnie. It wasn't until he drew even with her that his eyes landed on her at all. There was a slight pause before recognition dawned and those pale grey eyes widened in surprise.

"You!"

"Me," she agreed, satisfaction ringing in her voice.

Beall went nuts. If he hadn't already been handcuffed, he might have managed to slip the grip of his escort. As it was, they barely managed to restrain his renewed thrashing. He lunged forward, trying to get to Winnie, spitting at her face. She stepped to one side calmly, the saliva sailing over her shoulder. She had a very hard time keeping the grin from her face, but she somehow managed to keep her expression neutral.

"You won't get away with this!" Beall screamed! "Whatever you told them, it won't stick. I'll be right back on the street in an hour!"

"Oh, come on now, Beall. I've already gotten away with it." She did let the grin slip through then, leaning in just a little. Carroski put a concerned hand on her shoulder but she ignored it. "After all, what's that you've always been telling me? I can't lose, right? 'Win' is right there in my name."

Her grin faded at that last bit. Oh how she loathed that saying. Every time he'd ever thrown it at her in derision, making sure she knew that failure was not an option, she'd hated him just a little bit more. Her mom had said it once when she was little, in front of Beall. After he'd taken her in, he'd started using it to pressure her into trying riskier and riskier things, even when she was unsure of her skills. Her mom had meant it to be encouragement, a reminder that she believed in Winnie. Beall had meant it as a threat. She knew he'd take it as one now.

Beall's face fell a little as he realized she meant business and she felt her grin returning. Maybe it was childish to throw the words back in his face, to taunt him when his life as he knew it was basically over. But it was pretty damn satisfying all the same. Besides, technically, she _was_ still a child. For the next two months, at least.

"You traitorous little bitch," Beall snapped, starting to struggle again. "After everything I did for you, after I took you in and raised you and taught you a trade--" Carroski snorted and Winnie straightened up again.

"Maybe that would all count for a lot more," she said, softly enough that he had to lean in to hear her, "if you hadn't had my parents killed."

Beall went very, very still. His eyes widened and she realized it was panic that she saw in them.

"What do you know?" It was half whispered, half moaned.

"Everything," she told him simply.

Beall's head whipped around, moving from Winnie, to his arresting officers, and finally coming to rest on Carroski.

"I know names. Details. Locations. Anything you want to know, I'll tell you."

"That's wonderful, Beall," Carroski said, a grin on his own face. "And these officers will be delighted to take that information from you. But trust me when I say that nothing you give us will prevent you from going away for the rest of your life."

He looked at the officers and jerked his head toward the interrogation rooms. They nodded and moved off in that direction, hauling a now quiet and unresisting Beall along with them. Carroski and Winnie watched them go until they had turned a corner and then he glanced down at Winnie.

"You okay?"

"Yeah," she said after a moment. "I am, actually. Though..." She bit her lip and looked up at him. "What if he does have enough information on the Reds to make a deal?"

"I meant what I said, kid." He squeezed her arm reassuringly. "No matter what he gives us, he's going away for life. The more he talks, the better chance he has at getting into a nicer facility, or getting a protection detail, but even if he gives us what we need to bring down the Reds entirely, he's still not walking. Ever."

She nodded, accepting his word. She doubted Beall had enough to bring down the whole gang anyway. It was a galactic organization, after all, and Beall was only running in one specialized part of it. They might shut down the local cell. But the gang would go on.

"Even so," Carroski mused after a moment, "He knows you're testifying against him, now. Let's do what we can to get you off this planet as soon as we can, eh?" He gave her a wry smile and she returned it. "Now come on, I'll take you back to your place so you can pack up your belongings."

~~

Carroski and his lieutenant were good to their word. They managed to get Beall's trial expedited in the courts. Winnie knew that it was mostly so that they could get Beall's crimes on the record, which would let them be used as evidence against other members of the Reds. Still, she was pretty damn pleased to hear of his conviction the day before her birthday.

Meanwhile, Carroski had contacted a friend from his Alliance days, some guy called Anderson, who had worked with her to get a jumpstart on the enlistment process. She was surprised to learn that Anderson had pulled some strings to get her fast-tracked into Officer Candidate School as well. Carroski had shrugged and grinned when she'd questioned him on it. Part of it was the MPA, he explained. She'd be safer in officer training, and anyone looking for her was less likely to start there. But, when she pressed, he admitted that he had also told Anderson just how impressed he had been with her hacking skills. When her birthday rolled around, everything was in order for her to be sworn in. Two days later, she boarded a flight to Arcturus Station for her basic training.

She spent most of the flight in the ship's small dining hall, which had several tiny round windows. Someone told her they were inspired by the portholes on ancient sea vessels, but she didn't really care about their origin. What she did care about was that for the first time in her life, she could actually see the stars. They were a thousand times more beautiful than she had ever imagined. She found herself getting lost looking out at them, and hours would pass without her realizing.

Winnie's face was serene when she disembarked onto Arcturus Station with the other recruits, though her stomach was roiling with nerves. But with every step she took, the nerves calmed just a little bit more. The place was huge and strange, and like nothing she had ever experienced in her life. But at the same time, it felt somehow familiar, comforting. Arriving at Arcturus Station, Winnie realized she felt something that she hadn't felt in almost eight years.

She felt like she had finally come home.


End file.
